Tuesday, May 19, 2015

had the privilege of writing this for SPITFIRE the other day about their one and only video that came out 22 years ago.

"Guard this copy with your life, there's only two in existence!" what Ruben meant when he said this to me was, there are only two with this soundtrack. There are only two that have "Mean Street" perfectly timed to raise the hairs on the back of your neck during Cardiel's opening part. In 1993 spitfire wheels made their first video. We were all basically kids, being that it was 22 years ago.
It was the time of low budget videos and no major planning. Ruben Orkin was our faithful team manager and "Director" of the video but most of all our friend. Rube's throaty voice could often be heard bellowing out various names of team riders followed up by some exclamation of stoke about them. The team was his life and he was like a proud parent when he mentioned anyone from Billy Valdez to Fred Gall to Ed Templeton. So when the video was being made you might receive a phone call at 10am from Rube exclaiming "dude spitfire video, lets get some footage", I can't really put into words how he sounded over the phone, but it'd put a smile on your face where you were kind of stoked but also sort of laughing at the way Rube spoke and his endless excitement.
Most everyone in this video spent only a day or two filming, maybe some a little more, but it was a different time in skate videos, where it was just up to the rider to control the destiny of their part. So what you get is a slice of time, a sealed capsule of 1993's Spitfire team, but with the original music the rider picked. It's a completely different experience with this music and definitely adds more personality. It's a pretty strange mix of riders especially to look back on now and see all the various directions we've gone. Spitfire will always be fast and tough to me, it'll be Coco's bad reputation, Julien's canned heat, and Cardiel's mean street.
Ruben Orkin (r.i.p.)... that fire burns forever.
- Max Schaaf 2015

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

bf5


looks like a life size hotwheel. 
I'm still a skateboarder.